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“Well, I hope I don’t. I have quite enough on my plate, learning magic at all.” My hands landed on my hips. “Maybe you’re right, and I need to rest.”

“You know what helps me the most when I’m exhausted?” Thantrel asked.

“What’s that?”

“A stiff drink.”

“It’s not even midday!”

He shrugged an elegant, lithe shoulder. Unlike the other Riis brothers, Thantrel was slim, his muscles lean. His build must have come from his mother. “Rules are made to be broken.”

I laughed. “Says you.”

“Trust me. Life is more fun that way.”

Considering Thantrel seemed to have a lot of fun, I believed that.

“One more go,” I said. “Then I’ll allow you to corrupt me.”

“Princess, you couldn’t handle me corrupting you.”

My cheeks turned red at his silky tone, which onlymade the youngest Riis brother laugh as I turned away from him and called my magic once more.

Thantrel wasn’t who my heart wanted, but he was so charismatic and handsome that when he flirted—which was quite often—I became a little flustered.

Doing my best to ignore the faerie behind me, I looked at the evergreen trees, their limbs hanging heavy with snow from the near-constant storms plaguing the midlands since our arrival.

“I’m going to take the snow from the nearest tree and swirl it around the tree,” I declared.

“Looking forward to the show,” Thantrel replied.

I focused on the tree, willing my magic to rise against my skin again. It did my bidding, the pulse of it weak, tired, as Thantrel claimed. But I could not have that. When I faced Roar, I needed to be strong in every way that mattered. I needed to show him that he had not shattered me.

Not that he’d care, butIdid. I’d trusted Roar, and he’d broken that trust. More than that, he’d kept secrets from me. And I was certain that he’d suspected my true identity since the moment he’d first seen me, when he commented on my scar.

Magic thrumming, I directed it at the tree, and to my delight, the branches shook.

“More,” Thantrel called.

“I’m trying,” I gritted out as my arms began to tremble, far too soon for how long I’d been going at it.

I pushed again, and the snow on the branches fell to the ground.

“Wrong way.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?” I barked but didn’t bother to look at him. He was likely smiling, and that would only infuriate me.

“This is how Father taught us! Are you saying he did it wrong?”

Aside from Luccan, I did not know. The other Riis brothers had yet to show their powers. But seeing as Luccan was trying to create a gateway in a matter of days, I suspected that Lord Riis knew a thing or two about training his sons.

My teeth ground together with the effort of sending more power at the tree, trying to lift the snow, and sweat trickled down my face before, finally, something happened. The snow rose in a thin stream, straight up rather than swirling about.

Almost there.

Another wash of power left me, this time leaving behind the lingering sensation of spikes pounding into my forearms. I winced but didn’t let the pain stop me. I’d been through so much worse—and if I wanted to live a life in which I wasn’t looking over my shoulder every two seconds, I had to become powerful. So strong that others would not dare to mess with me.

To do that, I had to walk through the fire and reshape myself. I had to believe I’d transformed from the blood slave I’d once been to a fae who could change the lives of those who lived as I once did.